


we don't need poetry

by nightswatch



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Body Image, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 17:45:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8170381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightswatch/pseuds/nightswatch
Summary: Dex doesn't really do well with compliments. And Nursey just can't have that.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, this started out as a prompt fill I did last night before the update but it wouldn't let me go and now I've added some stuff to it. 
> 
> You can find the original [here](http://zimmermaenner.tumblr.com/post/151115572793/im-so-bad-at-wording-prompts-but-how-about-nursey).

Nursey doesn’t notice at first. Maybe that makes him a bad boyfriend.

He’s a boyfriend. He’s _dating_ someone. How did that happen? Well. A month ago on Dex’s bed, that’s when it happened. They had a _talk_. An _are we friends who kiss sometimes or is this sort of getting out of hand_ talk. Dex scowled a lot and Nursey shrugged a lot and then they made plans to go out for pizza the next day. As boyfriends.

Nursey has never done this before, not in all seriousness.

Things didn’t even change much in the beginning. Except now they kiss more often, and Nursey doesn’t _accidentally_ fall asleep in Dex’s bed, he falls asleep there because Dex tells him it’s fine if he stays, and they go out for coffee and for pancakes, and Dex waits for him after class sometimes.

Two weeks ago Dex took his hand when they were walking to practice, his face red and his eyes fixed on the ground. Nursey jostled him and smiled. And Dex smiled back.

Dex smiles at him more often now. It’s nice.

But then there’s also that thing with the commitment. That’s why he’s never done this before. Nursey usually likes to keep his relationships far away from complications. And when you’re serious about someone, complications are just part of the deal. There’s no way around that.

What Nursey expects is that they’ll fight a lot.

But they don’t.

If anything, they fight less than before. Because now, when one of them is fed up with an argument that’s going nowhere anyway, they can shut each other up pretty effectively. And Nursey isn’t sure if he’s imagining things, but sometimes he thinks that Dex is actively trying not to pick fights as often as he used to.

Nursey has started to notice a lot of things about Dex. He assumes that’s just what happens when you really get to know someone. He knows where he has to kiss Dex to make his breath hitch, knows that Dex likes to stick his cold hands under his shirt, knows the face that Dex makes when he really needs a hug but is too stubborn to ask. Nursey likes knowing all those things.

Sometimes he notices them right away and sometimes they sneak up on him. Like that thing, the one that he doesn’t really notice at first, which potentially makes him the most terrible boyfriend to have ever walked this planet, that’s one of those things that sneaks up on him.

The thing is, every time Nursey says something about Dex’s looks, Dex only huffs.

“Looking good,” Nursey says when Dex is wearing a suit jacket. Dex huffs. “Your hair looks nice like that,” Nursey says when Dex hasn’t cut it in a while. He likes it like that because he can tug at it a little better that way. And Dex doesn’t seem to mind the tugging, but when Nursey says it, he only huffs about it. “I like your freckles,” Nursey says and it nearly kills him because he’s not used to saying these things out loud, not like this, not when he’s saying them to his _boyfriend_ , but Dex doesn’t care. He huffs.

And at first Nursey assumes that maybe Dex just doesn’t know what to say. But then it hits him that it might be a dismissal. That Dex doesn’t believe him. That he thinks that Nursey is just saying all that for some weirdass reason and not because it’s the truth. 

Nursey doesn’t really know what to do about it. He can’t do more than say what he thinks, right? Sometimes Nursey just whistles at Dex and it earns him an eye-roll every time. And that’s in no way better than a huff. Because sometimes Dex’s eye-rolls are actually good-natured and he smiles a bit, but when Nursey whistles at him, Dex turns into a no-smile-zone.

Nursey isn’t too keen on bringing it up because he doesn’t want to start a fight about it. He likes it when they’re not fighting.

It bugs him, though.

Because he wants Dex to believe him. He wants Dex to know how much he loves looking at him, how lovely Nursey thinks he is. Because Dex is lovely. It’s probably a weird word to use for a 6’2” hockey player. He’s handsome. A strapping young lad. Whatever. Nursey really likes his stupid face.

So the next time Dex huffs, Nursey is _done_.

They’re in Nursey’s room and someone’s partying hard down the hall and it’s the middle of the night but they don’t have practice tomorrow, so Dex isn’t grumbling about Nursey keeping him up. Really, he looks like he doesn’t mind at all.

Nursey is on top of him, straddling his hips and Dex is kissing him so hard that Nursey has forgotten how to breathe. Dex was a bit awkward about the whole _I’m kissing you and you’re a boy_ issue in the beginning, but he’s definitely over that. Nursey tries not to think about it too much because it’s mashing his brain, but Dex knows exactly what Nursey likes. And he puts that knowledge to good use.

Dex’s shirt is already lost in the chaos of Nursey’s room and Nursey’s shirt is about to go as well. He sits up and looks down at Dex, pale and freckled all over, and trails his fingers down Dex’s chest and whispers, “Look at you…”

And Dex huffs. Business as usual. He reaches out to tug at Nursey’s shirt, but Nursey isn’t having that this time.

“Hey…” Nursey catches Dex’s hand and squeezes it before he leans down to kiss along the line of his jaw. He slowly makes his way to Dex’s ear and says, “I’m serious.”

Dex squirms underneath him. “Come on…”

“What?” Nursey props himself up, blinking down at Dex, who’s trying his hardest not to look at him, although he can’t really look anywhere else with Nursey hovering right above his face. “Don’t believe me when I say you’re the most handsome–”

“Nursey,” Dex says. It’s a warning. Something snippy has crept into his voice. “Stop it.”

“Why?”

“Because…” Dex clearly doesn’t want to have this conversation. He pulls Nursey into a kiss and Nursey lets him. Let’s him trace his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue, lets him bite down, lightly, the sting just enough to make Nursey gasp, lets Dex tangle his fingers in his hair to keep him where he is.

They kiss for a while, just kiss, less urgent than before, and Nursey keeps his hands on Dex’s chest and trails his thumbs along his collarbones and then moves to cup his cheeks. Then he pulls away, far enough so he can look Dex in the eyes.

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” Nursey asks. “When I say that I like the way you look?”

“No,” Dex says pointedly. There’s another _stop it_ in there somewhere. He heaves a sigh. His face is blotchy and his eyebrows are drawn together, and Nursey puts the former down to Dex being turned on and the latter to Dex being pissed off.

“Because I do like the way you look.”

Dex doesn’t reply. He’s still trying his hardest not to look Nursey in the eyes.

Nursey is gonna have to have this conversation by himself. But he’s definitely having it, because he’s now convinced that he was right all along. He doesn’t care if he’s the only one who’s talking as long as Dex is listening. “You really don’t believe me,” Nursey says.

Dex chews on his bottom lip. His silence speaks volumes. It’s so much louder than any words that Dex could say right now.

It hurts a bit.

Although Nursey is pretty sure that it doesn’t have anything to do with him personally. It has everything to do with Dex.

“Dex,” Nursey says. He sits back and crawls off Dex. The air in his room feels cold all of a sudden. He’d love to curl back against Dex and pull a blanket around them, but he wants to look at Dex, wants to actually see his face.

Dex sits up as well, unwillingly, his lips a thin line.

Nursey stares at him. Dex’s hair is sticking up in odd places. There’s a bruise on his arm from when Nursey tripped over a chair and into Dex at the Haus a couple of days ago. Dex caught him and laughed against his skin.

“What?” Dex finally snaps.

Nursey hasn’t even managed to scrape together his thoughts yet. He has completely ruined whatever they were headed for a minute ago, but he honestly doesn’t give a shit. This is more important. “Riddle me this,” Nursey says, “why would I say all that if I didn’t think it was true?”

There’s something defiant in Dex’s eyes when he says, “Look, we both know that I’m not the most attractive guy around.”

“Well, that’s _your_ opinion,” Nursey says, eyes narrowed at Dex. The two of them and their opinions, always getting in the way. In any case, Nursey would hardly be so keen on getting Dex’s clothes off if he didn’t find him attractive.

It’s not just about getting Dex’s clothes off, though. It’s about kissing him and talking to him in the darkness of one of their rooms before they fall asleep and about bumping his foot against Dex’s under the table when they’re having breakfast and about watching movies with Dex leaning back against his chest. It’s about all of that.

He scoots closer to Dex and sits between his legs.

He doesn’t know how to do this. Mainly because he’s never done this before; he’s never put his feelings on the table. It’s not something he does. Being all sappy and shit, that’s not who he is and it’s not who Dex is either. He feels all these things when he looks at Dex and he doesn’t want to pick them apart because he’s scared of them and that’s not… chill.

This thing with Dex, it wasn’t supposed to be complicated, it wasn’t supposed to be serious. But now it is and Nursey thinks he might like it anyway.

Nursey looks at Dex, who’s looking back at him like he’s two seconds away from shoving him off the bed, and decides where to start, decides what he likes best, decides how to say this. He should be good with words with all that poetry he’s been reading, but they don’t need poetry right now. _Dex_ doesn’t need poetry. Just the truth, even if he finds it hard to believe.

“The thing is… I like your face.” Nursey taps his finger against Dex’s nose. “I like it.” He brushes his knuckles over his cheek. “And I like your freckles. Really. I think I like those the best, actually.” He leans in to brush his lips against Dex’s, the quickest of kisses. “There’s nothing I don’t like.” Nursey smirks. “Except maybe your godawful temper.”

Usually that would have earned him an annoyed grumble, but Dex is very, very quiet. Honestly, Nursey doesn’t know what to do with the look on his face. He doesn’t look angry anymore, but thoughtful. And maybe even a little surprised.

Fingers wandering up and down Dex’s chest, Nursey mumbles, “Why would I lie to you?”

He presses his fingers against the scar on Dex’s shoulder. Nursey remembers lying next to him, both of them exhausted and half-asleep, his hands lazily mapping out Dex’s skin, his fingers lingering on that scar. He remembers Dex saying, “A lobster attacked me,” when Nursey asked him where he got it.

Nursey tangles his fingers in Dex’s hair and tugs and kisses his neck and sucks at his skin until he’s sure that there’ll be a bruise blooming right there tomorrow morning.

“Why would I lie?” Nursey asks again.

Dex doesn’t reply, but Nursey didn’t really expect him to. He pushes Dex back down on the mattress. Dex goes without a complaint. He’s not trying to avoid Nursey’s eyes anymore. He’s listening, his eyes wide, his lips parted. He’s listening and that’s all that matters to Nursey.

“I could look at you all day,” Nursey says. He could, he really could. He can’t even imagine getting bored looking at him.

He kisses Dex. One, two, three soft kisses, slow and lingering, and Dex’s eyes flutter shut.

Nursey is still against Dex. He could go on, but he’s not sure if he should. He’s made his point and he can’t do anything about the way Dex sees himself in a matter of an hour, or a day, or a week. All he can do is tell Dex how he sees him and hope that there’ll be less huffing in the future.

Nursey kisses Dex’s cheek. “Do you believe me?”

For a moment, Nursey thinks me might not get a reply, because Dex is still a stubborn little shit and if he doesn’t want to talk, he won’t talk. When he finally says, “Yeah,” it sounds strangely broken.

“Are you just saying that because you want me to shut up?”

Dex sucks in a deep breath. “No.”

“Okay,” Nursey says and it’s not, not really, but at least they’ve taken a step towards _okay_. He bumps his nose against Dex’s. “I really like your freckles, Dex.”

Dex doesn’t huff. He doesn’t say a word. But there’s a tentative smile tugging at the corner of his lips and Nursey counts that as a big improvement. 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, kudos and comments are very much appreciated :)
> 
> If you wanna say hi on tumblr, I'm @zimmermaenner


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